Saturday, June 21, 2008

Even the rocks want out of here?

Why is there so much suffering? Because this isn't the way God created it to be- Adam and Eve messed it up for us (we would have done the same thing) and because this isn't our home!! It doesn't minimize our REAL pain here but there is hope in the fact we are just passing through.

I saw a little boy at the playground Wednesday who only had one arm. No legs and missing the other arm. He was probably about 5. He played with the pine bark on the ground because he couldn't use the slides or the swings. No one played with him. No one helped him go down the slide. I wondered where his mommy was. Maybe he was having a great time, I don't know but his limitations were pain-stakingly obvious to everyone.

Finally, a little girl went to talk to him. She played with the pine bark with him.

His whole life will be limited by his handicaps. Is God using His life for His glory? Definitely!! As soon as I saw Him, I thought of the greatness of God and how that sweet boy will have a beautiful new body in heaven. How God's heart grieves for him more than mine did. Is his life of less worth than mine or yours? No way!! but I bet he will enjoy his new body in heaven more than we will. I just watched him with tears in my eyes as I realized the brokenness of this place. My heart cried out for Jesus to come.

Even creation is crying out for redemption...

"All creation anticipates the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us."